No more excuses | Life Series

Why are we not super-achievers in every possible way?

Read time: about a min.

Please don’t take it personally; I include myself here. Let me explain.

We have access to unprecedented levels of data and information. We can access resources globally with simple clicks online. We can connect with mentors or teachers anywhere in the world.

Much of what we have around us was alien to even our recent ancestors. Not without painstaking effort, but only the privileged had the means of getting a fraction of what we have now.

Now that begs the question – why isn’t everyone making great strides in their faculties. Why do most still produce mediocre results? Why, even knowing our areas of improvement fully, have we not mastered those areas?

Because?

Let me share a true story I read recently.

Plato travelled far and wide as a student and came to see his mentor, Socrates. Plato expressed to Socrates about his sincere desire to have his level of wisdom. Socrates told him to follow. He walked for a couple of miles and approached the ocean. Plato followed his mentor. As they walked out into the tide, the water grew more and more intense. First, it was at their shins, then their hips, and ultimately beyond chest level. Socrates asked Plato what he was truly after. Plato said knowledge and wisdom.

Socrates grabbed Plato’s head and shoved him under the water and kept him underwater until he was nearly unconscious. Plato was furious at his master and asked why he did that. Socrates took a moment, smiled, and said: “The moment your desire for knowledge and wisdom matches the desire you just experienced for air, you will have it.”

If we really want something, we will make sure to find the resources to get us there.

We have no excuses. Our time is this moment because it’s all we will ever have.

Thank you for sharing some of your precious time with me each week. Leave a comment if you liked it.

Stay safe, stay hopeful.

With gratitude, until next week.

Razak
CommonInterest